Millions in prizes at Corpus Christi church this Easter

“The Ultimate Giveaway” sounds like a promotion at a car dealership or a department store, not a contemporary, non-denominational church. That’s the name of the Easter service series at Corpus Christi’s Bay Area Fellowship, where they’ll award $2 million to $3 million in prizes this weekend.

YOU are the next winner of The Ultimate Giveaway! That’s right…With nearly $1 MILLION in prizes and giveaways, this Easter, everyone will win something at Bay Area Fellowship! And, wait…that’s not all. Each service we’re giving away FREE FLATSCREENS, LAPTOPS…and CARS!!! Be here beginning April 1 (and…no, this is no April Fool’s joke). This is the real deal! No tricks, strings or fine print! Show up and let Bay Area Fellowship bless YOU this Easter!

Houston native Bil Cornelius, the lead pastor, acknowledges that the campaign is “unconventional” and “extreme.”

“Jesus said ‘be fishers of men’ and we’ve just got big bait at the end of our hooks,” said Cornelius, who moved to Corpus Christi 12 years ago to found the now-7,500-person church. “This is no different than a church having an Easter egg hunt to get people to bring their kids. We just couldn’t find any eggs big enough to put the cars in.”

Some say The Ultimate Giveaway is more like a marketing scheme or a gimmick than an Easter celebration.

It’s meant to sound worldly and materialistic so that they can draw in local unchurched populations, Cornelius insists. The church has only heard complaints over the campaign from fellow Christians.

The connection to the Easter message: the giveaways are free, and so is heaven. People come in excited to get a BMW 325i (the first prize, which they’ll be awarding tonight), but may end up with bigger, more valuable rewards through the salvation of the Gospel.

I guess you have to sweeten the pot somehow because the deal – worship and do God’s will on Earth and your reward will be to worship and do God’s will for eternity – just isn’t wowing the crowds anymore.

Bil has spent the last 12 years in CC focusing on the size of his church. He has brought a lot of people into church, but he is off-putting to just as many. I never heard of their success in terms their works or theie ministries, just their attendance. That $3 million could do wonders for the poor and the hungry.

Puke! If you are going to spend that kind of money wouldn’t it make sense to purchase health insurance for your uninsured members and feed those in need. Oh wait, those are Christian principles and we’re talking gameshow mentality religion here.

Hope he enjoys all the ‘rice Christians’. Let’s look at Jesus’ ministry. Out of compassion he healed people and miraculously fed them. This resulted in huge crowds. And then He winnowed the crowds down by obscuring His message in parables and hard statements. He wanted only true believers to follow Him. Mr Cornelius wants butts in seats. Go for it; you have your reward.

It is time to tax churches as the profit centers that they truly are. The idea that wealth can be hidden behind the Lord is preposterous and needs to be stopped. The tax free ride for this kind of stuff needs to end. Joel Osteens empire also need a little visit from the IRS.

They will get a great turn out for the give aways. I’ll let God be the judge of this “so called pastor” – But I’ll take an educated guess that very few of these “fish” will return in the following weeks when the give-aways cease.

lol…is anybody surprised? This stuff is something to behold. Goes right along with that “prosperity gospel” craziness that I’m guessing this church probably embraces.

As a religious skeptic, I’m amused and a little depressed by the cynicism here. But I’ve always thought the American church would bring about its own decline faster than abortion or gay rights or any other “culture war” issue. We’re a business-oriented society, and religion has become big business. I guess hellfire and damnation doesn’t pack the pews the way it used to.

Being lured to a church with for an opportunity to win totally worthless earthly treasures, simply puts that church or pastor first instead of God. It’s no difference than going because of a great choir, beautiful building, a particular pastor etc. If God Jesus Christ is not first, then you are and “you” can’t get anyone into heaven.

I am young, but old fashioned in my approach to Christianity. To me this is borderline blasphemy! If you have to resort to giving away BMWs to get people to church, then it just goes to show the level of faith at the church. When did selling the message of hope, peace and love go out of style? Now we need “trinkets” to get them in the door and put on rock star concerts to keep their attention. Reminds me of scene in the Bible where Jesus overturns the tables of the money changers…

The CHURCH is not giving away millions, the member’s of the CHURCH donated these items in hope’s of getting the un-churched to come see what the ULTIMATE GIVEAWAY truely was. Jesus giving his life by dying on the cross for us! Did Jesus not say “Be fisher’s of men”? Funny this article doesnt mention the 300+ bikes that will be given away to the kids in the not so fortunate area of Corpus.

The point here is that the church did not buy any of these items, they were donated by the community. So its not $3 million that could have been spent elsewhere, they haven’t spent a dime on these prizes at all. Furthermore, the church was very explicit that prizes were free, not a coupon or discount. 100% free to everyone who comes.

In addition, what if one of these visitors actually received Christ? Wouldn’t it all be worth it?

Yes, what IF one actually received Christ? The problem is that most of these people are not GOING for Christ. They are going for cars. Butts in the pews do not equal new believers, though that is what most people in these churches seem to believe. And while they may “accept” Jesus, if they are not hearing a Biblical account of the Gospel, or being taught Biblical principles instead of worldly ones, who can say if they are actually “receiving” Christ? “God is cool” is different than “God is my personal Lord and Savior, and He has forgiven me from my sins when I asked Him. He is now changing my heart to be more like His.” Receiving Christ brings about life change- but having been in churches like this in the past (for several years), I KNOW that life-change is not what happens. If it was, that pastor would happy to rely on the life-changing power of the gospel- and the power of God- to bring people. Not the power of worldly possessions and trappings. This is basically admitting that Jesus unadulterated doesn’t cut it anymore- let’s just go ahead and help God out. Yay for relevancy!! My favorite line in this article is that “The church has only heard complaints over the campaign from fellow Christians”… probably because the WORLD doesn’t recognize this for what it is (and neither do the worldly people in these “churches”)- and that is why I think that these people will probably not actually be “receiving” Christ- the Bible is so distorted in these churches that people hear very little truth. This is heartbreaking.

So very sad. You know why I go to church? It’s because there I can worship and where people know me. A year ago, my (now ex-)husband left. I was lost, but found a Sunday school class that has blessed me & my child. I don’t “need” a flat screen. I don’t “need” a new car. But my car did need an oil change–some guys in our church change it quaterly for single ladies–for free (you bring the oil & filter only)& checked my car over to be sure it was safe. Some in my class need groceries, help with rent, help with moving, babysitting–that’s what churches do. We minister to each other. We are there for each other & pray & provide. Cars and TV’s break down–and you can’t take them with you. What you do for others, that lasts.

Reminds me of the scripture where Paul travels the land giving out donated XBoxes and flat screen TVs. That’s In the Bible somewhere, right?

Despite how absurd this is, to those who complain that churches should be taxed are just the ultimate socialists. You want the original employer to be taxed on their income, then the individual employees to be taxed on what the employer pays them, then the church to be taxed again on what the individuals decide to donate. How many times does the same money need to be taxed?????

“they will know you are my disciples by the way you love each other” – if this is love, I’d hate to be your enemies. We applaud Ty and his gang every Sunday night as ABC lavishes a family with an audacious home because of something they’ve done or sacrificed, but we rip a bunch of Christ-followers in Corpus for giving away some audacity for free…this is a bit troublesome. It’s just stuff and what a picture of the grace God bestows on us. Can’t we celebrate the goodness and stop sounding like the Pharisees who complained about an expensive bottle of perfume being wasted?

I guess all those people who commented against the church giving these gifts would turn down and reject any gift they won at the church! As for me, I would take it and consider it a blessing from God and be thankful for it! Dont forget the story about Jesus telling Peter to go fishing, and the first fish he caught would have a gold coin in its mouth that he could use to pay the taxes.

Posted by: Gary: “…How many times does the same money need to be taxed?????…”

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Many churches have exceeded and pushed what should be deemed tax free — I prefer to see my donations used for more traditional items such as the betterment / maintenance of the actual facility, mission work, summer bible school, etc.

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I find the purchase of extreme door prizes to con individuals through the door for one day in poor taste. I also see it as a poor investment in the effort to truly attract and maintain congregation members…I also don’t like to see many of today’s “mega start ministers” living in luxury, tax free, off of donations.

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I am conservative and traditional in my beliefs regarding churches. I don’t think that necessarily makes me a “Socialist.”

GREAT IDEA, SPREADING THE WORD TO THOSE WHO NORMALLY WOULDN’T WANT TO HEAR IT!!! FOR EVERY HARD CORE CHRISTIAN THAT HAS POSTED THEIR DISAPOINTMENT ON THIS ARTICLE… IF ONE PERSON GETS A FREE CAR AND IT CHANGES THEIR LIFE FOR THE BETTER… THEN THEY CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY… IS IT STILL SUCH A BAD THING THEN???

WHERE TWO OR MORE ARE GATHERED, friend. Church attendance doesn’t mean squat. Is this seriously what Christ died for? This is shameful and an embarassment to the name of the Lord.

To those who honestly think this is a good thing… are you “little Christs”? Have you READ the words of Christ? This is so amazingly contrary to what he taught that you can’t possibly think this is a good idea. It’s not “winning hearts to the Lord,” it’s BRIBERY. Christ eschewed material wealth, greed, and the desire for power and more stuff. He advised the rich young man to sell all his possessions and follow him. The man walked away, saddened. You think a car or some fancy schmulzy prize is going to win people to God? It’s hollow and disgusting. The motivation is so anti-biblical I can’t fathom how anyone could think it’s a good idea. What a way to make a mockery of the Resurrection.

I am a member of Bay Area Fellowship and when I first heard this I felt funny about this.But upon reflecting over this I understand, no matter what it takes to get people to hear Gods word we should do it. Just think if one person in all of this finds God…then everything is worth it.I go to BAF because Bil will be crazy enough to go to this extreme to get out the word.Call it what you like.I know that people will come for the wrong reason,but stay for the right one. Jesus